1. Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to communication systems; and, more particularly, it relates to receive processing (demodulation and decoding) of signals received within such communication systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Data communication systems have been under continual development for many years. In recent years, the development of piconet type communication systems has been under increasing development. A piconet may be viewed as a network that is established when two devices connect to support communication of data between themselves. These piconets typically operate within a region having a radius of up to approximately 10 meters. Sometimes, piconets are referred to as PANs (Personal Area Networks), and those piconets that operate using wireless means are often referred to as WPANs (Wireless Personal Area Networks).
Piconets are often typically discussed in the context of wireless communication systems. Devices operating within the piconet typically operate according to an M/S (Master/Slave) type relationship. Some piconets also include multiple user devices (e.g., slave devices) that interact with a piconet controller (e.g., the master device). In even some other instances, two or more piconets operate such that they share at least one common device in a scatternet implementation. For example, in a scatternet, user devices (slave devices) may interact with two or more separate piconet controllers (master devices). This implementation allows various devices within different piconets that are located relatively far from one another to communicate through the corresponding piconet controllers (master devices) of the scatternet. However, within a scatternet implementation, a problem may arise such that each of the individual piconets must be able to operate in relative close proximity with other piconets without interfering with one another. It is also noted that independently operating piconets, not implemented within a scatternet implementation, may also suffer from deleterious effects of interference with other piconets located within relative close proximity. One such deleterious effect that may arise is when the symbols (or pulses) being transmitted within the piconets operating within relatively close proximity collide with one another thereby resulting in potentially lost data.
As is known, the Bluetooth® communication standard is the first such PAN communication standard that has been developed. In accordance with the Bluetooth® communication standard, the communication between the various devices in such a piconet is strictly performed using an M/S (Master/Slave) configuration. Each of the devices within the Bluetooth® piconet is M/S capable. Typically one of the devices, or a first device within the Bluetooth® piconet, transmits a beacon signal (or an access invitation signal) while operating as the “master” device of the Bluetooth® piconet to the other “slave” devices of the Bluetooth® piconet. In other words, the “master” device of the Bluetooth® piconet polls the other “slave” devices to get them to respond.
Another PAN communication standard that has been developed is that of the IEEE (Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers) 802.15 standard. Variations and extensions of the 802.15 standard (e.g., 802.15.1, 802.15.2, 802.15.3, and others that may be developed over time) have also been under development during recent times. Operation according to 802.15.3 differs from that of the Bluetooth® communication standard. According to 802.15.3, one particular device is specially designed to operate as a piconet controller (master) within a piconet; that is to say, every device in such an IEEE 802.15.3 piconet does not operate in an M/S mode. One device within such an IEEE 802.15.3 piconet operates as a piconet controller (master), and the other devices within the IEEE 802.15.3 piconet may be implemented as user devices (slaves). It is also noted that the piconet controller (master) may operate to facilitate the p2p (peer to peer) operation between the various user devices (slaves) within the piconet.
There has been a great deal of development recently in seeking to enable the simultaneous operation of piconets within relatively close proximity with one another (without suffering significant deleterious effects such as degradation of performance, large numbers of collisions of transmitted symbols within the various piconets, and other such deleterious effects). Currently, there does not exist in the art a sufficient solution that may accommodate the undesirable effects of symbol collisions within such piconets in a satisfactory manner. While there have been some attempts to try to deal with minimizing these undesirable symbol collisions within such piconets, there does not yet exist a satisfactory manner in which symbol collisions (when they do in fact occur) may be dealt with while maintaining a very high level of performance for all of the devices within the piconet.